Knit undergarment with elastic neck band



y 1939- J. H. CROSSINGHAM KNIT UNDERGARMENT WITH ELASTIC NECK BAND Filed Oct. 15, 1937 J. H Crosszh [22172 final/M51 Patented May 9, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE KNIT UNDERGARMENT WITH ELASTI NECK BAND Application October 13, 1937, Serial No. 168,824

3 Claims.

This invention relates to knit undergarments especially adapted, although not exclusively intended, for children's wear. It appertains particularly to the neck construction of knit shirts.

i One of' the objects of the invention is to provide an endless elastic neck band which shall spread to permit the garment to be slipped over the head, avoiding the necessity for an opening down the front and the use of buttons, pins and i other closures for the opening.

'Another object of the invention is to incorporate into the neck of a knit garment of the class described, an endless rubber band controlling the stretch of the knit material so that while it is capable of spreading to admit the head, it returns to a position of repose, snugly encompassing the neck of thewearer.

A further object of the invention is to provide a knit collarette forming the circumferential margin of the neck hole of the shirt, extending beyond the zone of the endless rubber band, preventing rolling of the edge of the garment which would occur if the rubber elastic band were at the extreme edge of the neck opening.

i Still another object of the invention is to make the collarette of knit material with the wales running perpendicular to the direction of the circumference, so as to enable the collarette to stretch to the full capacity of the rubber.

) Other objects of the invention will appear as the following description of a preferred and practical embodiment thereof proceeds.

In the drawing which accompanies and forms a part of the following specification and through- 5 out the several figures of which the same characters of reference have been employed to denote identical parts:

Figure 1 is a view in elevation illustrating a shirt having the neck portion constructed according to the principles of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a view in elevation on a somewhat enlarged scale showing the neck portion, part being broken away to disclose the interior construction; and Figure 3 is a section taken along the line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Referring now in detail to the several figures, the numeral I represents the body portion of a shirt which is of knit material having the wales 2 running longitudinally of the body of the garment. It is of course a matter of common knowledge that the material is much more stretchable transversely of the wales than it is in the direction of the wales and therefore the shirt is more elastic circumferentially of the body than it is longitudinally of the body.

On account of the flimsiness of the material of which undershirts are customarily made, manufacturers have heretofore resorted to an inelastic binding or finish for the neck opening so as to prevent the garment stretching out of shape at the neck. This of course made it impossible to slip the garment over the head and it was necessary to form an opening down the front and to close the opening with suitable devices, generally buttons. After some wear and washing the button holes usually became so stretched as no longer to retain the buttons and one is quite familiar with the annoying tendency of shirts as formerly made to hang open in the front even though they were buttoned when first put on.

The concept of the present invention contemplates the provision of a. neck opening 3 bounded by an unbroken circumference, in other words devoid of any longitudinal cleft'extending part or all of the way down the front of the garment. This opening 3 is of such size as to properly fit the neck of the wearer.

The problem which the present invention solves is in so constructing the neck band which bounds this opening that it will permit the opening to stretch so as to admit the head of the wearer and at the same time restore the opening 'to its normal repose size. This is accomplished by incorporating in the neck band an endless filament i of rubber. Inasmuch as ordinary sulphur-cured rubber compound deteriorates rapidly under wear and repeated laundering, it is preferred this filament of rubber shall be of pure vulcanized latex rubber which has a coefiicient of elasticity superior to that of the ordinary rubber compound and which will not deteriorate through age or repeated washing.

The neck opening 3 is finished with a collarette 5 of knit material and which may be the same material as the body fabric of the shirt. In view of the fact that the collarette 5 must stretch with the rubber to the size of the head, it is made and disposed with its wales 6 extending perpendicular to the direction of the circumference so as to give the collarette the maximum stretch in a circumferential direction. The collarette is preferably a doubled piece of material between the fold of which the edges of the body material of the shirt are embraced as shown at 1 in Figure 3 and united thereto preferably by a double needle chain stitch. The rubber filament is also preferably confined between the edges of the folded collarette and between the ends of the stitches formed by the two needles; thus the rubber filament is in effect within a narrow stretchable tubular casing and has not been pentrated by the needles.

The function of the collarette is not only to provide a neat and soft finish for the neck opening, but it serves to prevent rolling of the edge of the neck opening with respect to the hair when the shirt is put on or taken off. If the rubber were at the terminal edge it would tend to roll in stretching entraining the hair of the wearer in the tensioned fabric, pulling the hair. Since the collarette forms an extending portion of soft material of considerable width, its presence prevents the rolling of the material in the zone of the rubber. 7

While I have in the above described and illustrated what I believe to be a preferred and practical form of the invention, it will be understood that such variations in structure as will still embody the broad-inventive concept are within the purview of my invention as defined in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. Knit garment having a circumferential elastic neck band characterized by the absence of an opening cleft, said neck band comprising a continuous circumferentially disposed collarette formed of folded knit material, the folds of which embrace the adjacent edge of the body material of the garment, a row of double needles elastic stitching uniting said collarette to said body material, and a continuous rubber band extending circumferentially of said neck band and confined within the zone of said stitching.

2. Knit garment having a circumferential elastic neck band characterized by the absence of an opening cleft, said neck band comprising a continuous circumferential disposed collarette of folded material knit with wales, the wales extending perpendicular to the circumference, said collarette being formed of folded material, having the folds thereof embracing the edge of the bodymaterial of the garment, said collarette and the body material of the garment being united by a circumferential row of double needle stitches forming a tubular confining zone, a continuous latex rubber band extending circumferentially of said neck band and confied within the zone of said stitching, said collarette being knit with wales and disposed with the wales extending perpendicular to the circumferential direction of said collarette.

3. Knit undergarment having a circumferential neck opening without a cleft, of such size as to stretch to pass the head of the wearer and to cause the material constituting the bounding margin of said opening to lie in an approximate flat ring against the surface of the body surrounding the base of the neck, the texture of the garment being of such fiimsiness as to permanently sag upon stretching, enlarging the neck opening, means to maintain the normal repose size of said opening without impeding its capacity to stretch comprising a circumferential knit binding for said neck opening, having wales substantially normal to the circumferential line of said neck opening, and a continuous rubber filament incorporated circumferentially in said binding at a distance from the edge of said neck opening.

JAMES H. CROSSINGHAM. 

